The best waterfalls in Yellowstone National Park

I picked a rainy day to hike up toward Fairy Falls, half-expecting the mist and clouds to give everything a moody, dreamy look instead of the usual postcard shot. My actual plan was simple: get up to the overlook above Grand Prismatic Spring and see the whole rainbow of color spread out below me.

Once I got up there, I understood why people warn you about this. Everything below was just white. Rain mixing with the steam rising off the hot springs turned the whole basin into something that looked shot through a frosted filter. The color bands Grand Prismatic is famous for were basically gone.

Worth clarifying, since it trips people up: the overlook and Fairy Falls itself aren't the same stop. The overlook is a short climb off the main Fairy Falls Trail and gives you the bird's-eye view of Grand Prismatic. Fairy Falls, the actual waterfall, is about 200 feet tall and sits another mile or so further down the same trail, so if you only walk up to the overlook and turn back, you haven't actually seen the falls yet.